Travis County health officials on Wednesday said five more people in the area have died from coronavirus-related complications, bringing the county’s pandemic death toll to 483.
Local health authorities also said 118 more people in the area have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total case count to 37,238.
The county’s number of active cases decreased on Wednesday for the first time this month, and was 2,559, compared to 2,716 on Tuesday.
As of Wednesday, the number of estimated recoveries in the county was 34,196, according to local health officials.
Of the 226 people in the hospital Wednesday with the coronavirus, 74 were in intensive care and 48 were on ventilators.
The county reported 29 new hospital admissions for COVID-19 on Wednesday and the area’s seven-day rolling average of new hospitalizations is now 37.1, marking a slight decrease since Tuesday’s report.
The record for the highest seven-day average number of new hospitalizations for the Austin-Travis County area stands at 75.1, reported on July 8.
The seven-day rolling average of new hospital admissions is one of the main factors health officials look at when considering coronavirus-related restrictions in the city.
Of those who have tested positive for the coronavirus in the pandemic, 47% were Hispanic, according to recent Austin data. Non-Hispanic whites made up about 34% of cases, 7% are Black and 3% are Asian.
According to the 2019 census estimates, the county is about 49% non-Hispanic white, 9% Black, 7.4% Asian, and 33.6% of the population is Hispanic.
Local health officials last week released pandemic-related safety guidelines for holiday gatherings and activities and said the area had entered into Stage 4 of Austin Public Health’s risk-based guidelines.
Under renewed Stage 4 guidelines:
– Higher-risk individuals (those older than 65 and those who have chronic medical conditions) should limit social gatherings to no more than two people outside their household. They should stay home, except for essential trips such as buying groceries or receiving medical care.
– Lower-risk individuals should avoid social gatherings with more than 10 people and non-essential travel.
– Business and restaurant owners are encouraged to voluntarily reduce capacity by 25% to 50%.
– Schools are encouraged to limit attendance at sporting events to players, coaches and parents.
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